Can opener



March 13, 1956 R, LMO 2,738,097

CAN OPENERS Filed March 31, 1953 INVENTOR.

A 7 ORA f) United States Patent CAN OPENER Robert A. Gilmour, Somerset, Pa.

Application March 31, 1953, Serial No. 345,869

1 Claim. (Cl. 220-52) This invention relates to a can opener, and while primarily designed and intended for removing the sealing strip from a conventionel type of vacuum sealed can, it will be obvious that the device may be employed for any other purposes wherein it is applicable.

In the usual method employed for removing the sealing strip from a vacuum sealed can by means of a conventional type of key only, there is always a tendency for the convolutions of the coiling sealing strip to shift from their super-imposed relation to each other, and under such conditions often renders it extremely difiicult to complete the sealing strip removal operation.

Important objects and advantages of the invention are to provide a can opener of the character described, which will function to uniformly coil the convolutions of the sealing strip being removed accurately upon each other without deviation and in consequence facilitate and expedite the complete removal of the sealing strip from the can, and which may be conveniently and readily operated by any one of ordinary skill.

Further objects and advantages of the invention are to provide a device of the class described, which is simple in its construction and arrangement, durable and efi'lcient in its use, compact, and comparatively economical in its manufacture.

To the accomplishment of these and such other objects as may hereinafter appear, the invention resides in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts herein specifically described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, but it is to be understood that changes in the form, proportions and details of construction may be resorted to that come within the scope of the claim hereunto appended.

In the drawing wherein like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views:

Figure l is a side elevational view of a can opener constructed in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a front elevational view thereof.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the can opener.

Figure 4 is a front elevational view of a modified form of can opener inbodying the invention.

Figure 5 is a side elevational view of the modification.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the improved can opener comprises a pair of spaced, parallel disposed guide plates, respectively indicated at 1 and 2. The guide plates are fiat and are positioned vertically edgewise. The guide plates are carried at the forward end of a horizontally disposed supporting bracket 3 and project forwardly from the latter. The bracket includes a rectangularly disposed, apertured attaching plate 4, by which the device may be secured in position against the surface of a supportstructure by means of screws or the like.

The free forward end edge of each of the guide plates 1 and 2 is preferably formed with a slight concave curvature, as indicated at 5, to adapt said edge, to a degree, to the circular peripheral surface of a can 6, against which the guides plates operate, as illustrated in Figure 3.

A horizontally disposed operating shaft 7 is revolubly and removably mounted in a pair of horizontally aligned apertures 8, provided therefor in respective guide plates 1 and 2 adjacent to the forward free ends of the guide plates and at the centers of the heights of the latter.

The free end portion of the operating shaft 7 that extends through the guide plates 1 and 2 is provided with a longitudinally extending slot 9, which is open at the free end of the operating shaft, which is provided for the purpose to be hereinafter described.

The operating shaft 7 carries a fixed disk 10 to limit the inward movement of the operating shaft in the apertures S of the guide plates 1 and 2, but which allows the free withdrawal of the operating shaft from the guide plates when required.

The operating shaft 7 is joined with a crank arm 11, which is provided with an operating handle 12 for manually imparting rotation to the shaft 7 during the operation of the device when effecting the opening of a can.

In practice, the can 6, shown in dot and dash lines, is so placed against the free ends of the guide plates 1 and 2, as to position the sealing strip 13 of the can 6 between the ends of the guide plates, as clearly shown in Figure 3. The usual free end portion 14 of the sealing strip is then inserted through the slot 9 in the operating shaft in the direction whereby the rotation of the latter in the clockwise direction will remove the sealing strip from the can, and at the same time will uniformly coil or wind the sealing strip upon the slotted portion of the operating shaft between the guide plates 1 and 2. Due to the position of the guide plates the sealing strip will be compactly and uniformly coiled upon the operating shaft without liability of untoward lateral deviation of the convolutions with respect to each other. It is, of course, apparent that during the sealing strip removing and coiling operations the can 6 will rotate against the ends of the guide plates 1 and 2.

To remove the coiled sealing strip 13 from its engagement on the slotted portion of the operating shaft 7 between the guide plates 1 and 2 after the can opening operation, it is only necessary to withdraw the operating shaft from the guide plates, whereby the free end 14 of the sealing strip is disengaged from the slot 9 in the operating shaft and the coiled sealing strip is released and removed from the operating shaft.

The modified form of can opener, illustrated in Figures 4 and 5, is a substantially U-shaped structure, which is not intended to be fixed in position on a supporting surface. The structure comprises a pair of joined, spaced, and parallel disposed guide plates, respectively indicated at 15 and 16. Each of the guide plates 15 and 16 is provided with an elongated slot 17. An operating key 18 is provided to effect the removing and coiling operations, and includes a shaft 19 provided with a slotted end portion 20 which extends through the slots 17 in the guide plates 15 and 16, and which is revoluble and removable from the slots 17.

In the use of the modified form of can opener, the free end 14 of the sealing strip 13 is engaged in the slotted end portion 20 of the shaft 19, and upon manual rotation of the latter the sealing strip will be removed from the can 6 and coiled upon the slotted end portion 20 between the guide plates 15 and 16. During the removing and ceiling operation, the device will travel around the can. The elongated slots 17 in the guide plates 15 and 16 will compensate for the progressively increasing coil during the coiling operation, and will cause the free ends of the guide plates 15 and 16 to be held firmly against the can during the coiling and removing of the sealing strip from the can.

It will here be noted that the modified form of the device may be provided with an operating key that cannot be removed from the guide plates, and such device would be marketed with each can and discarded after use, Further, the modified form of the device may be constructed to allow the use of a conventional type of key to efiect its operation.

The present invention provides a most efficient device of its kind, which may be economically constructed and successfully employed for the purposes and in the manner herein set forth.

What I claim is:

A can opener of the class described comprising, in combination, a pair of fiat guide plates disposed edgewise in spaced parallel relation to each other, the outer edges of said plates being slightly concaved in the longitudinal direction, a supporting bracket, one of said plates integrally formed at the forward end of said bracket and the other of said plates being rigidly secured at one side of said bracket, said plates provided with a pair of horizontally aligned apertures disposed centrally of and adjacent to the outer concaved edges of said plates, an operating shaft revolubly and removably projected through said apertures in said plates, a crank element formed at one end of said shaft and being operable for rotating said shaft in said plates, the projected end portion of said shaft being provided with an elongated longitudinally extending slot opening at the projected end of said shaft, and means carried by said shaft and being disposed adjacent to the inner end of said slot for limiting the projection of said shaft through the said apertures in said plates.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 687,939 Moore Dec. 3, 1901 1,646,719 Young Oct. 25, 1927 1,669,247 Johnson May 8, 1928 2,572,820 Schluter Oct. 23, 1951 2,578,379 Taylor Dec. 11, 1951 

